Archive for the D&D 3.5 e Content Category

Why I Love DDO

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5 e Content, Dungeons and Dragons, Gaming Culture, Product Review, Video Games with tags , on June 27, 2011 by boccobsblog

 The Dungeon Master. The narration helps me immerse myself in the game world. (This may seem like a small detail, but it adds a lot to my enjoyment of the game).

Repeatable Quests. I can replay any quest as many times as I like and still get XP and loot.

Variable Difficulty. Quests have five levels of difficulty to choose from: casual, normal, hard, elite, and epic. (Note you have to unlock the last three. If you beat hard, you unlock elite, etc.) This makes leveling easy and adds new life to old quests.

Hirelings. Are you a caster without a tank? No healer in the party? You can just spend a few coins and get a hireling of nearly any class/race combo.The hireling stays with you for the entire dungeon. (I pay one fifteen gold and hire a cleric and the two of us can easily complete dungeons on the hard setting)

Puzzles. For those that tire of hack and slash, DDO includes many challenging puzzles into some quests. (I tried some out this weekend and was greatly impressed)

It’s D20 system. DDO uses 3.5 mechanics (modified slightly for video game use of course). I like the familiarity and ease this brings. It also makes character creation a snap.

It’s Free. DDO is completely free to download and play. Granted there are options not available to the free account players (namely the Favored Soul class, and some races: drow, half orcs, and warforged). Also, free accounts can only have two characters. Wizards makes their money through the DDO Store, in which you can spend money to get points which can be used to buy several things (items, classes, races rare adventures, hirelings, etc).

DDO is certainly worth a try. I am enjoying it greatly.

Try DDO for free

DDO concept art from Wizards.com

Gaming Paper

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Pathfinder, Product Review with tags , on May 9, 2011 by boccobsblog

If you’re looking for a new way to map out your game, give Gaming Paper a try (at four dollars a roll it’s an inexpensive test run).

What is Gaming Paper? Well according to their website:

Gaming Paper is the latest innovation in roleplaying and miniatures accessories and is a low-cost alternative to expensive battlemaps and tile sets. It’s an inexpensive, reusable and disposable product for gamers.

Gaming Paper is sold in convenient rolls that are 30 inches wide and 12’ long, for 30 square feet of playing surface. At only $4/roll, it is a fraction of the cost of other gaming mats on the market. Not only is it usable for miniatures games, but it is also ideal for roleplaying games. Anyone can use pens, markers, or other simple writing implements to create detailed terrain for campaigns or miniatures battles.

While I don’t use Gaming paper for every game, I do like it for situations when I don’t want to lug a mess of Dungeons Tiles or when I don’t want to halt the game while I draw a scene on a reusable battlemat. Gaming Paper allows you to draw elaborate maps using markers, pencils, pen, paint, (basically any art supply you enjoy using). You can get Gaming Paper  with either a square grid or hexes.

I highly recommend Gaming Paper, give it a chance and see if you enjoy it as much as I do.

Gamingpaper.com

Gamemastery Item Cards

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Pathfinder, Product Review with tags , , on April 25, 2011 by boccobsblog

images from Paizo.com

We’ve had a few posts talking about using props in your game. Some people have commented that they like the idea of props, but lack the time to find or make them. That got me thinking; Paizo offers a line of item cards that each depicts (in full color) an item either mundane or magical which could be used as a sort of meta prop.

Along with magic items, they offer two sets of mundane gear. This could be useful for those “ok who has the rope” scenario, or the similar “Oh I wouldn’t have been carrying the ancient artifact of doom on me, I left that in the inn”.

The cards (54 to a pack) have artwork by some the industries best artists, and the back of each card is left blank so the DM or player can write notes about the item, along with a detailed description of the item. The cards are not random, the contents of each deck (along with several previews) can be found at Paizo’s website.  At ten dollars a pack they are relatively inexpensive and offer a nice visual effect to enhance your game.

Check them out, and if you have a cool use for the cards, let us know.

Example of actual cards from “Elements of Power” deck (images from Paizo.com)

101 D&D Quest Ideas

Posted in D&D 3.5, D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 3.5e DM Content, D&D 4e Content, D&D 5e, D&D Fifth Edition, D&D Next, Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 by boccobsblog
  1. News spreads that a dragon was slain while away from his cave, a search for its unguarded hoard is underway
  2. A thief has stolen a powerful item from a lich and then joins the party for protection
  3. A wizard/collector wants a live troll to study
  4. Rat catchers are going missing under the city and a plague is spreading in their absence
  5. A local caster has summoned a creature that they cannot contain and it is destroying the area
  6. A charismatic charlatan claims (and has proof) to be the cousin/brother/son of one of the PCs
  7. A wandering merchant trades a pc for their magic item for a fake he claims is more powerful
  8. Shipments from a nearby mine have stopped when the PCs investigate they find the miners crazed and covered with red welts apparently from exposure to a new element they uncovered
  9. A white dragon is driving monsters from the north into the southern lands
  10. A planar rift has formed and outsiders are seeping through
  11. A powerful noble/wizard is hosting a masquerade ball where the guests are polymorphed into monster as their costume, but an actual monster attends to kill the noble/wizard
  12. A sorcerer has died of old age, strange things are creeping out of his tower as his spells, and dweomers break down
  13. A map has been found that leads to parts of an artifact that once reassembled, will summon a fiendish kraken
  14. The dead are rising as zombies one hour after their death
  15. Slavers are capturing peasants and merchants on the highway and selling them to mindflayers
  16. A shop/traveling merchant sells pets/familiars that are actually polymorphed people
  17. The PC’s are sent to find a hermit that lives on the “moving island”, a zircon/dragon turtle
  18. A traveling circus/faire comes to town and completely vanishes in the morning with several children
  19. An Ur priest cult is killing all the divine casters in the area
  20. Water drawn from a certain well is animating into water elementals/mephits
  21. An evil druid has taken up residence in the sewers and is waging a guerilla war on civilization
  22. Anyone who reads a cursed book, brought into town by an adventuring party, dies after reading it
  23. A killer is leaving rare flowers in the mouths of his victims
  24. A member of a planar cartographical society offers the PCs membership into the elite group if they can complete a scavenger hunt that leads them across several planes in one day
  25. A mysterious helmed/hooded/masked figure has forged an impressive army by bringing tribes of kobolds, goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins under one banner. The leader is actually a cleric disheartened by the lack of faith and respect of his flock and means to increase belief and prayer for his deity by leading an army of wolves against his flockHave you see D&D vs Rick & Morty?
  26. The owner of a failing inn claims to have the entrance to a mysterious dungeon in his cellar hoping that the ruse will draw business from adventurers
  27. A pack of displacer beasts/displacer beast lord is preying on farm animals and farmers alike
  28. Two rival gangs are actually devils and demons fighting a Blood War battle on the city streets
  29. The daughter/apprentice of a caster that polymorphed himself into a golden cup and placed himself in the hoard of a green dragon in an attempt to learn more about dragons, but it has been weeks and he has not come home contacts the PCs
  30. Reports that a gold dragon is ravaging the countryside turn out to be true. The dragon, sick with a rare disease, has gone mad and must be stopped
  31. Grave robbers working for a necromancer are running out of graves and start looking for easy prey
  32. A “red” dragon demanding tributes from a village is actually an especially greedy copper dragon
  33. A killer is released from prison and the father of one of his victims stages a similar murder in the hopes of framing him
  34. A traveling “holy man” is selling relics that disappear in the morning
  35. The new judge is in fact a devil hoping to harvest souls for not guilty verdicts
  36. A logging camped is being haunted by the ghost of a treant/forest haunt and his dryad followers
  37. A band of fey has been stealing wine from a rural tavern
  38. A good and helpful aranea has been captured and tried for murder while the true culprit is a drider that resides close by
  39. A college that teaches science over magic opens and arcane casters start going missing
  40. Drug-related deaths lead the PCs to an evil alchemist
  41. The PCs are hired to retrieve a meteor, but find it is being worshipped by a tribe of goblins/orcs/lizardmen etc.
  42. Several women in the area are pregnant under strange circumstances, an incubus is to blame
  43. An artifact is needed to avert a major catastrophe; its last known owner was Levistus the arch devil trapped within a glacier
  44. The PCs must find a rare herb only known to grow within Gith monasteries
  45. The PCs visit a strange village where all the people are simulacrums, an ancient wizards mark is seen everywhere
  46. The PCs are sent to a distant land to find an NPC that it turns out has been dead for 20 years
  47. The PCs must help a conflicted Erinyes to the Cradle of Creation (phb2) to be reborn into a non-evil body
  48. A map leading to the legendary Shield of Praetor has been found, it states that the shield is in the cave of a dracolich. The map was sent by the dracolich’s minions in the hopes of freeing their master who is sealed magically into his cave
  49. A local orphanage is actually run by a demonic cultist that sacrifices the weak children and raises the strong ones to be followers
  50. A powerful artifact that will allow teleportation through the layers of the abyss/hells has been uncovered and a race to claim it has begun. The PCs must beat the groups of devils and demons that see the artifact as a powerful tool to end the Blood War

    Grab a copy of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

  51. An overmatched Marut seeks assistance with a powerful lich/vampire/mummy
  52. Rumors of “The most powerful sword” lead the PCs to an evil, intelligent, dancing sword that can animate other weapons to fight for it
  53. The PCs are sent to a battlefield to retrieve a family heirloom from a missing soldier where a necromancer and his corpse collector golem are raising the fallen as undead
  54. A cult of Tiamat have discovered a spell that ages living creatures and they are trying to use it on dragon eggs to raise powerful allies
  55. The PCs are sent to deal with a raiding ogre that turns out to be a gnome illusionist
  56. The PCs are looking for an arrow used to slay a dragon a hundred years earlier, but when they pull the arrow from the dragon’s skeleton, it animates and attacks
  57. The PCs need the help/information of a treant that will only add them if they agree to be shrunk down to clear out an infestation of insects that invaded his roots
  58. The PCs are invited to a Three Dragon Ante tourney, either as guards, VIPs, or to play
  59. A lawful good lich (Monsters of Faerun) seeks the PCs to protect him from a zealous paladin on a quest to rid the world of undead
  60. Thieves have plundered a tomb and until his golden burial mask is returned, a ghost/ghast/specter will continue to kill innocent people
  61. A group of fire giants has taken up residence in an inactive volcano, their activity threatens to awaken the volcano and cause widespread devastation
  62. A grandmotherly, if slightly senile, NPC asks the players to rid her attic of rats. The rats are in fact a group of thieves trying to open a magical doorway left by the wizard that previously owned the home
  63. A monster seen roaming close to town is actually a cursed person and not evil
  64. The PCs find a genie in a bottle, but the genie agrees to help/grant wishes/serve only after the players travel to the City of Brass and save someone the genie cares about
  65. The PCs find a wounded angel that is being hunted by powerful outsiders
  66. A newly discovered dungeon is actually a complex trap to harvest souls/magic/life energy
  67. The PCs must break an innocent man from a complex magical prison
  68. Murders attributed to a small girl are being done by her doll, a slaymate (libris motris)
  69. An ancient beholder has gone mad and his destroying the Underdark, driving monsters to the surface
  70. A gnome settlement has been overrun by Drow displacing hundreds of citizens
  71. A mad wizard has been selling potions that have poisonous/odd effects
  72. Mind flayers are draining people of their quintessence in hopes of using the substance to return to the far realm from which aberrations came
  73. A spelljammer has crashed in a remote forest/jungle and the inhabitants seek materials to repair their helm
  74. A foreign diplomat seeks the party’s monk to protect him on a mission to a country/city where magic and weapons are not allowed
  75. The tarrasque is wreaking havoc on the countryside and the party (lvl 10ish) must slow it down until the champions (20th) can arrive, but the tarrasque is actually a simulacrum (cr 10) sent by an outsider/caster/etc. and not the real thing
  76. Cultist seek a tablet that depicts a ritual that will summon a Fist of Spite (BoVD)
  77. The party must save an NPC from the stomach demiplane of Dalmosh (MM5)
  78. The guild master of the cooper’s guild wants to discredit the owner of a local winery with whom he has had an argument by poisoning his barrels
  79. A local sage/astronomer is convinced that a massive meteor is going to strike the kingdom/city/town
  80. The normally-inert gargoyles atop the temple/castle/mansion have animated and started attacking people who approach the building
  81. A group of bulettes is keeping anyone from entering or leaving the city/town/inn
  82. A doppelganger/changeling serial killer claims the identity of their most recent victim for one week before killing again
  83. A gnome settlement has been overrun by fiendish duergar led by a demon
  84. PCs seek out a powerful dwarven, smith who traded his soul to Asmodeus for unearthly crafting abilities. Before the smith will help the PCs, they must reclaim his soul from the arch devil
  85. The players find/are sent to a city that reflects the entire multiverse scaled down with a neutral inn in the center run by a power caster
  86. The PCs search for a legendary library that when found, has no books only the corpses of long-dead sages and librarian clerics that use speak with dead to obtain the knowledge
  87. The PCs need a party member/NPC raised from the dead but the only cleric powerful enough to do so has recently been turned by a vampire he was hunting
  88. The PCs find/buy/are given a strange bag of holding that has a small pocket dimension inside it where a frightened caster hides. He/she created the bag to hide in and saw that it ended up in the PCs hands to keep it safe
  89. The PCs seek an answer/information from a forgotten bard. When they find him, he is a ghost and he will only help them if they give him peace by finishing his final poem/song/movement
  90. A chaotic good horselord (CAd) has led all the horses in the region/city/town away into the hills to freedom
  91. The huntsman of a local lord/mayor has kidnapped the NPC’s daughter, and only a highly trained tracker can follow the trail and find the girl
  92. An aged and grizzled warrior is going town to town offering his magic sword/shield/armor to any fighter that can best him in honorable combat
  93. After returning from a diplomatic journey, the noble/diplomat/prince/queen is acting strangely. The PCs are asked to look into it only to find that the NPC is a doppelganger/changeling/simulacrum/charmed/possessed
  94. A pair of ethereal filchers are stealing all the curative magic in the area/city/town
  95. The answer/riddle/name/code that the PCs require is etched onto the helm of a massive golem that paces a deadly dungeon
  96. Monthly full moon attacks are blamed on a good lycan, and are actually being carried out by a pack of Moon Rats (MM2)
  97. Summoned Thoqqua threaten to compromise the structural integrity of the city/town/inn/dungeon/ as they melt tunnels through the ground below
  98. Centaur knights (phb2) are running any humanoid from their forest
  99. The PCs are sought by the patrons of a desert land where a despotic temple of cleric charges impossibly high rates for fresh water to people not of their faith
  100. A temple has hired a large number of bards for a festival where music is to be played from sun up until sundown, the only problem is that no one recalls the obscure holiday because it is a ruse to mask the sound of tomb robbers breaking into sealed vaults below the church
  101. A xenophobic elvish lord has begun to arrest non-elves after his daughter eloped with a human

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Printable version:

101 D&D Quest Ideas

Want more? Here is another 101 quests 


Buy me an 1/18 of a cup of coffee
D&D 5E Core Rulebook Gift Set
Dungeon Mayhem – D&D Card Game
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

 

Need some 5e Adventures?

Available on DriveThruRPG

Goodbye Minis, Hello Tokens

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Product Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2011 by boccobsblog

Wizard’s has stopped production on their miniatures line. To help fill this gap, they have begun producing more 2D tokens.

We ran an article several months ago showing how you could easily make these tokens at home, but several players have expressed that they haven’t the time to make their own so, that said, here is a list of Wizard’s products that contain good D&D tokens.

Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game (2000)

This was a 3.0 edition basic game for people new to the hobby. It contains several sheets of one-sided, gray-scale tokens. Some of the tokens are of strange sizes because the sizing was different in 3.0 (large tall, large long, etc.), but this only affects a few tokens. This set is getting hard to find, but can still be bought on Amazon or E-bay for about 5 dollars. While not flimsy, these tokens are made out of much thinner material than the 4e tokens, but they are your cheapest option.

D&D Role-Playing Game Starter Set (2008)

This is essentially the fourth edition equivalent of the above-mentioned product. It came with a few sheets of dungeon tiles and several sheets of two-sided, full color tokens made out of the same material as Dungeon Tiles. The down side to this product is that it didn’t remain in production for very long and prices online are expensive with new sets selling for 50 dollars on Amazon.

The Red Box (2010)

The “Red Box” contains two sheets of token similar (but not exactly the same) as those contained in the fourth ed. Starter set from 2008. The Red Box sells for about twenty dollars and can be found online, Wal-Mart, and Target (although hopefully you’ll support your local game store if you have one)

Dungeon Master’s Kit (2010)

This box set contains another 3 sheets of die-cut tokens made from the Dungeon Tile material. Two sheets contain monsters and one sheet is PC’s of various races and classes. At forty dollars, this is the most expensive option, because the tokens are just a small part of the product.

Monster Vault (2010)

This 4e product is a treasure trove of monster tokens containing 10 full sheets of iconic D&D monsters. Again, these tokens are die-cut and made from the same material as Dungeon Tiles. At thirty dollars, it is one of the pricier options, but it is filled with some beautiful tokens of varying sizes.

Are you being cheated out of your critical hits?

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Gaming News, Product Review with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2010 by boccobsblog

That’s what the people at Game Science claim. Their founder, Louis Zocchi, says that because modern dice companies roll their dice in rock tumblers and use sub-standard plastics to make their dice, that they are not as statistically accurate as his dice are.

I tested several of the dice I purchased this year at Gen Con and I have to admit, Zocchi’s claims appear to be true (as “proved” by my very non-scientific test). I tested dice in groups of three to reduce the amount of time I spent rolling dice.

Results: Out of 150 rolls (tested 3 times), the Game Science dice rolled 15 20’s, while his competitors (three other large dice companies) only yielded 8 20’s.

I have conducted other similar tests for the unbelieving  gamers in my groups and come up with similar results.  Granted that a much larger data set would be needed to come to any firm decision, but the dice seem to yield more 20’s.

Has anyone else out there done any testing of their own? If so tell us about it.

-Andy

Highlights of Gen Con Indy 2010

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Gaming News, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 11, 2010 by boccobsblog

Well, Gen Con Indy is over. As always, it was an amazing experience. Where else in the world can you see 28,000 gamers in one place? Where else can you have a deep conversation about kobold battle tactics with a 45-year-old man in a homemade Pikachu costume and have no one judge you? The rest of the world could learn a lot about diversity and tolerance at Gen Con.

Here are some of the highlights:

 

 

Costumes 

The attendants of this year’s Gen Con did not disappoint. There were some amazing costumes and everyone I saw was very patient, allowing themselves to be photographed again and again.

Free Demos 

There were more games at GC than you could ever hope to try in four days. We tried some great new games and we will be sure to give each of them a full review in the weeks to come.

The Vendors 

You have to admire people who are willing to spend four days dressed as a luchador, or a pirate, or wear a chicken on their head in hopes of moving their product.

Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton

This was the only part of the con that was a bit sour for me. I had hoped to meet the cast of The Guild, but the line was very long, so I walked up to the rope and took a few pictures. Shortly after I started snapping shots, security approached me and asked that I, “please put my pants back on and step away from the crew”. Well as you can imagine I was outraged, so I pulled my boffer sword and started to kick ass all the while screaming that Wil Wheaton had stolen my prized Degu. Any who…things got a bit intense and I was tazed several times and asked to leave. I didn’t let it ruin my day.

 Wizards of the Coast Displays

WotC had some amazing displays outside the Sagamon Ballroom, where they unveiled both the 4th edition incarnation of Darksun and the Castle Ravenloft Board game. There was a huge 3D red dragon representation of the Essential D&D Starter set that drop on September 7th. Also, there was a life-sized (can there be a life-sized version of a make-believe creature?) Beholder. It stood well over 12 feet tall. It was awesome.

 The World of Darkness Lounge 

White Wolf had an excellent longue set up in the center of the con. The lounge, fully staffed by vampires, offered a bar, live music and an opulent seating area decorated with gothic-style furniture.

All in all it was a great con. There is much more to say and I could go on forever posting pictures, but then I’d wouldn’t get any gaming done. If you attended the con I hope you had as good a time as I did, and if you didn’t get a chance to go, I hope to see you there next year. Enjoy these pictures.

-Andy 

 

 

 

 

 

Felicia Day.

Buy my game or I’ll body slam you!

Tired of the base classes? Here’s 34 other options

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 3.5e DM Content with tags , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2010 by boccobsblog

Are you ready for a new challenge? Are you ready to step away from the base classes in the Player’s Handbook? Well many gamers don’t realize that there are several 20-level classes available to 3.5 players. The following is a list of 34, 20-level classes from the D&D 3.5 canon listed by the book they are found in.

Complete Adventurer

Ninja- stealthy assassin with ki powers

Scout- focuses on stealth and movement

Spellthief- a mage/thief that steals spells from other casters

Complete Arcane

Warlock- dark caster with unlimited eldritch blasts

Warmage- armored spellcaster

Wu Jen- elemental caster with unique spells

Complete Divine

Favored Soul- spontaneous divine caster (think divine sorcerer)

Shugenja- elemental divine caster

Spirit Shaman- spiritual nature healer

Complete Psionic

Ardent- versatile manifester

Divine Mind- divine manifester

Lurk- psionic assassin

Complete Warrior

Hexblade- blends curses and swordplay

Samurai- honor bound warrior

Swashbuckler- fighter that focuses on speed and skill

Dragon Magic

Dragonfire Adept- Draconic caster with breath weapon, similar to Dragon Shaman

Dungeonscape

Factoum- a true jack of all trades

Heroes of Horror

Archivist-erudite divine caster that exploits monsters through knowledge

Dread Necromancer-master of undeath on the road to lichdom

Magic of Incarnum

Incarnate- caster that embodies his alignment

Soulborn- blends incarnum and martial combat

Totemist- calls on the souls of nature

Miniatures Handbook

Healer- a specialist in curative magic

Marshal- a born leader and commander

Player’s Handbook II

Beguiler-master of lies and deception

Duskblade-fighter mage class without multiclassing

Dragon Shaman-dragon worshiper with a breath weapon

Knight- mounted warrior

Tome of Battle- The Book of Nine Swords

Crusader- holy warriors

Swordsage-blade wizards

Warblade-master of martial combat

Tome of Magic

Binder- summons powerful beings and bargains with them for power

Shadowcaster-masters of the power of darkness

Truenamer- uses the power of Truespeak

While Wizard’s may no longer be publishing books for the 3.5 edition, there is enough existing content out there to keep us gaming for several hundred lifetimes. (Classes from the Player’s Handbook and Expanded Psionics Handbook were not listed.)

Did I forgot any canonical 20-level classes? If so, post them in the comments section.

Two web shows every gamer should watch

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 4e Content, Gaming News with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2010 by boccobsblog

The Guild

The Guild, follows the exploits of a group of online gamers deeply entrenched in WoW-parody MMO. The show’s spot-on depictions of online gamers and hilarious scripts have made the Knights of Good an overnight web sensation. Fans of Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, will recognize the show’s star and head writer, Felicia Day, along with Effinfunny.com creator, Sandeep Parikh. The Guild has just started its fourth season (and can be seen here).

The Knights of Good

Legends of Neil

If you’re like me, then you have often wondered what would happen if you got drunk, and auto-erotically asphyxiated yourself with a Nintendo controller all while playing the original Legend of Zelda. Well, my hung over, sticky palmed friends wait no more, because Legends of Neil takes on such deep philosophical issues in the funniest, adult-themed Zelda parody show about an alcoholic gas station attendant on the web. The Legends of Neil can be found (for free) in its entirety on Effinfunny.com, or by pressing this link.

Both The Guild, and Legends of Neil are completely hilarious, completely free and a great way to spend an hour of your boring workday.

Two handouts that should make your life easier

Posted in D&D 3.5 e Content, D&D 3.5e DM Content, D&D 4e Content, The Crafty DM with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 30, 2010 by boccobsblog

GM screens can be useful tools. They are covered in somewhat useful information, and you can use them to shield your rolls and your miniatures. That said, there are some things that a GM’s screen doesn’t cover. Have you ever been in a game where this happens? :

DM: The blacksmith, a grimy dwarf with a long scar on his face, smiles as he hands you the newly forged sword.

Player: Cool, what’s his name?

DM: Um… (looking around the room), Table…Tablemen…yeah…his name is Tablemen.

Player: Did you just look at the table and name him Tablemen?

DM: Um…roll initiative.

Sound familiar? How about this one?

DM: With a flourish of your sword, you slay the last orc in chamber. What would you like to do?

Player: We search the orcs and the chamber for treasure.

DM: Um… (scrambles for a DMG)…you find something, I’ll roll it later.

Player: But, we could find something that would be useful in the rest of the dungeon.

DM: Fine. (Game comes to a halt for the next ten minutes and any momentum is lost)

These are scenarios that I have encountered multiple times, both as a player and as a GM. In an attempt to prevent scenes like these from happening in the future I have created two handouts that should help. The first is a sheet of names for each of the standard fantasy races(26 names per gender, per race). The second is a list of treasure in order of challenge rating (three entries per CR, 1st-20th).

These handouts aren’t meant to be used during the planning phase of your adventure (you would go through the treasure and names quickly), instead reserve them for those instances when your players ask you the name of an NPC you didn’t deem important enough to warrant a name, and for those time when your players wander into an encounter you didn’t expect (and therefore didn’t roll treasure for).

I hope you find them useful. Print them out, paper clip them inside your GM screen, and never be caught off guard again.

Names

Treasure

-Andy